


Speech prompts with Grindeldore

by yumbledore



Category: Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them (Movies), Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Ableism, Angst, Arguing, Attempted Suicide, Birthday Fluff, Canon Divergence, Child Abuse, Christmas, Established Relationship, Gellert loves Albus, Hurt/Comfort, Jealousy, Language, Long-Distance Relationship, M/M, Pining, Secret Relationship, Suggestive, evil!Dumbledore, prompts
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-09-09
Updated: 2019-02-23
Packaged: 2019-07-10 05:57:28
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 10
Words: 13,587
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15943181
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/yumbledore/pseuds/yumbledore
Summary: 50 speech prompts with Grindeldore. A WIP.





	1. 1 “How can you be maybe dying? It’s either yes or no”

**Author's Note:**

> I came across some speech prompts on tumblr (https://thunderbruce.tumblr.com/post/176034735307/some-speech-prompts) and decided I'll write them with the Albus/Gellert pairing to practice my writing. I want to write something more elaborate with them eventually, but I don't think I'm quite there yet.

_1\. “How can you be maybe dying?_ _It’s either yes or no”_

* * *

 

When the guard closed the door behind him with a clang, Albus shivered at the sudden drop of temperature. He burrowed the lower part of his face into his scarf as he reached down to take out his wand from his right pocket. “Cold?” he asked out loud. The rain was harshly beating down on the ground outside, some fifty meters below them.   

“Not more than usual,” a raspy voice replied from the dark abyss.

“ _Lumos_ ,” Albus said, and there was light.

Gellert was all skin and bones, seated in the far corner on his mattress, near the barred window. His arms laid lax by his sides, palms facing upwards. As Albus approached, he shifted slightly, eyes alight in their deep sockets. Gellert’s eyes were the only part of him that still looked remotely alive.

“Thanks,” Gellert rasped. “Can’t say I have it easy, what with you only visiting me once every blue moon.”

“Stop reading my mind,” Albus said, despite the warmth washing over him at the honesty of Gellert’s words. “Would you like some new books? There’s this new muggle-author, erm, a _New York Times Best Seller_ , perhaps you’ve-“

“What happened to your hand?” Gellert interjected, interrupting Albus. His eyes were set on Albus’ right, hiding behind his back. “You’re not left-handed,” he continued slowly, suspicious.

Albus smiled serenely. “Seems like dementia is catching up with you, after all. I’m ambidextrous.”

“No, you’re not,” Gellert sneered, surprisingly quickly on his feet, considering his condition. He swayed a little from the vertigo before closing the distance between them, grabbing Albus’s right arm with both hands, carefully pushing up the sleeve. Albus offered no resistance, but instead watched Gellert’s aged face closely, intimately. Gellert’s skin seemed almost greenish, but there was no visible change of expression as he took in Albus's blackened hand.

Finally, he bit his lower lip. “Are you dying?” Gellert's voice was no more than a whisper.

Albus closed his eyes briefly. He tried to tug his arm back, but Gellert held it too tightly. A pregnant pause. Albus emptied his mind of thoughts. “Maybe,” he replied carefully.

Gellert exhaled harshly through his nose, dropping Albus’s hand. “How can you be maybe dying? It’s either yes or no.”

Albus opened his eyes, met Gellert’s, and let his walls come down. He let Gellert see the truth of what happened, saw how Gellert’s face fell. “Yes,” Albus said, uselessly. “I am dying.”

Gellert nodded, still staring deeply into Albus’s eyes. “So that’s where the stone was.” Albus detected a hint of regret in his voice.

“It’s all right,” Albus said. “Life catches up to all of us, eventually.”

“Hmm.”

“You already know what I came here to warn you about. When he comes, and he will-“

“I know. Don’t worry, I won’t tell him,” Gellert assured him plainly. His palm reached for Albus’s face, cupping it gently, his thumb coming up wet as it brushed underneath Albus’s eye. “Shh.”

Albus swallowed past the lump in his throat. “I don’t want to leave you,” he whispered frantically, afraid his voice would crack if he spoke any louder.

The corners of Gellert’s mouth tugged slightly upwards. “He’ll find me soon enough, and then we’ll be together again. Forever, this time.”

Albus wrapped his arms around Gellert’s waist, hiding his face in the conjunction of where Gellert’s shoulder met his neck. Gellert hugged him back, his right hand carding through Albus’s hair as he offered him soothing, hushed words of comfort, while Albus shook against him. “Hey, hey. Shh. I love you, you know.”

Albus gasped harshly as he tried to control his breathing. He slowly pulled back from Gellert’s embrace, shaking his head and wiping tears from his face with the back of the healthy hand holding his wand. Gellert watched him silently, hands sliding up and down Albus’s sides.

“You’ll visit me again, yes?” he murmured when Albus eventually quieted down. “I’ll read the book by the muggle author. But I’d like some wizarding books, too.”

Albus couldn’t help but smile. “How about _Home Life and Social Habits of British Muggles_ by Wilhelm Wigworthy?”

Gellert grimaced. Albus laughed tearfully and then kissed Gellert’s cheek. “I’ll come visit you for Christmas,” Albus promised. He swung his wand through the air, five colorful, folded blankets appearing on the end of Gellert’s bed, along with three sweaters and seven pairs of woolen socks.

Gellert squeezed Albus’s wand hand in goodbye. “I’ll see you then.”

 


	2. 2 “Because I love you!”

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Prompt #2 from the speech prompts I found on tumblr (https://thunderbruce.tumblr.com/post/176034735307/some-speech-prompts).

_2\. “Because I love you!”_

* * *

Albus let the firewhisky slosh around in his mouth before swallowing. The sweet burn that followed down to the pit of his stomach made his eyes water just a bit. He cleared his throat and reached out with his empty glass.

With a silent spell and a few intricate hand movements, Gellert elegantly directed the bottle through the air towards Albus, who rolled his eyes. Sometimes Gellert’s bias of using magic instead of his own hands annoyed Albus to no end. Anything to prove himself above muggles. And to show off to Albus, it seemed.

The two of them were lounging on Bathilda Bagshot’s roof, underneath the starry sky. It had been Gellert’s idea. Albus had spent all of yesterday complaining about their lack of privacy – either Aberforth needed something for Ariana, or aunt Bathilda hung over their shoulders with the excuse of freshly baked treats or books either one might find interesting.

And in the woods neighboring Godric’s Hollow, the fields, the cemetery… there was always a risk of muggles finding them in compromising situations. Magic and non-magic related.

So, just a few hours before, Gellert had informed him that he’d found the perfect place for the two of them to celebrate Albus’s 18th birthday. Albus hadn’t really been up for celebrating after yet another violent episode by Ariana that had almost teared the house down, but Gellert had insisted, and Albus could rarely say no to Gellert’s smoldering eyes.

Albus highly suspected that Gellert had smuggled the firewhisky from somewhere – most likely Bathilda’s cellar, as the bottles looked ancient. Despite being underage, Gellert had done his fair share of participating in emptying the first bottle that night. Albus was torn between worrying about Gellert’s alcohol consumption and enjoying the thrill of them doing irresponsible things together. With Gellert, it was always so easy to drop the overbearing parental cape of responsibility and actually have fun, like people his age were supposed to.

Gellert seemed absorbed in thought. He was looking out over the village, twirling his wand. Albus watched as a warm breeze sent Gellert’s hair disarray.

”What are you thinking about?” Albus mumbled.

”The future,” Gellert replied vaguely.

Albus perked up. ”Any interesting, new visions?” If there was anything that Albus envied Gellert more than his freedom, it was his natural gift for prophecy. While Albus had gotten top marks in divination out of sheer will and effort, he’d never actually ‘seen’ anything, no matter how hard he tried.

Gellert closed his eyes, frowning. ”My inner eye sees… a person. With auburn hair.”

”Me?”

”No. It’s… Aberforth.”

”Aberforth.”

”Mm, yeah… He’s older… and he’s holding a goat-human hybrid. And- oh…” Gellert trailed off, feigning a gasp.

Albus snorted.  

Gellert looked over at Albus, grinning from ear to ear. ”What, would that be so unlikely? He's around them all the time, isn't he? Haven’t you ever thought about the possib-”

” _Please_ don’t put that image in my brain,” Albus groaned, and Gellert laughed and laughed.

Albus, who thoroughly enjoyed the sound of his laughter, took hold of Gellert’s hand. Gellert squeezed back, smiling at Albus with a glint in his eye. He then scooted closer and kissed Albus, knocking the air straight out of his lungs.

Albus kissed him back, of course, tilting his head, entangling his fingers in Gellert’s blond hair. Gellert moved impossibly closer. In his attempt to maneuver one leg to the other side of Albus, he stumbled against him, knocking Albus down to his back. Not minding their change of position in the slightest, Gellert resumed his task of kissing Albus, caressing his jaw gently while doing so.

After a few seconds or perhaps an eternity, when a church bell rang in the distance, they withdrew from each other, their sharply drawn breaths intermingling. Albus looked at him with dazed eyes, taking in the slight blush dusting over Gellert’s cheeks.

Gellert smiled and ducked his head as if embarrassed. “Happy birthday,” he murmured, nuzzling down Albus’s neck before sitting back on his knees. He actually physically reached for the bottle of firewhisky behind him this time and took a large swig of it.

Mesmerized, Albus watched Gellert’s Adam’s apple bob while stroking his hands down Gellert’s thighs. “I think you’ve had enough for tonight,” Albus managed. “We don’t want you falling down the roof, now, do we?”

Gellert obediently set down his bottle. Albus took his wand out of his jacket.

“ _Evanesco_.”

There was a beat of comfortable silence. Gellert leaned down over Albus, whose fingers were on Gellert’s belt in an instant.

“Run away with me,” Gellert whispered.

Albus sighed and dropped his hands, the moment lost. He readied himself for their usual argument. “You know I can’t.”

“We’ll go for Gregorovitch first. After, I’ll take you to Switzerland, and we can start amassing followers. We’ll take Ariana with us. There’ll be nothing holding you back to this place.”

Albus bit his lip. “Why is it paramount we do it now? Why can’t we wait a few years, at least until she’s seventeen? There’s so much planning we still could do. Why now?”

“Because I love you!” Gellert hissed, clearly frustrated. “I love you, and I can see how this place is sucking the soul out of you. You and I were meant for greater things than this mundane, small-town life. We should be out there, exploring! Fulfilling our purpose, leading the revolution. Fighting for the greater good!”

“I know that,” Albus said carefully. “But I also don’t want to rush into things.” Albus patted Gellert’s legs before wriggling his body out from underneath him, sitting down beside him instead. “Ariana is in a very sensitive state right now...”

“Isn’t she always?”

“What I’m saying is, let’s just wait it out a bit. When she’s in a stronger place mentally, I might reconsider.”

Gellert mulled over his words. Albus reached for his hand, caressing the back of it with his thumb.

“But,” Gellert began. “What if a change of scenery is exactly what she needs? It can’t be easy for her, staying locked up in her room all the time. Perhaps the cure for her condition is out there, outside of Britain.”

Albus smiled. “Perhaps,” he agreed. “But for now, I think we should wait.”

“You’re restricting yourself too much. Diminishing yourself. It’s a waste of talent.”

Albus sighed. “And you’re not dropping this, are you?”

“No,” Gellert said, unwavering. “I know I will be able to change your mind about this. I’ve seen it, and I’m not giving up. I won’t change your mind tonight, but the time is coming.”

“All right,” Albus said softly, combing his fingers through Gellert’s hair. “While we wait for that, how about we…?”

Gellert looked at him, eyes going tender. “Yes,” he agreed, leaning in.

Albus closed his eyes and met Gellert’s lips in yet another sweet, sweet kiss.

 


	3. 3 “Were you crying?”

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Prompt #3 from the speech prompts I found on tumblr (https://thunderbruce.tumblr.com/post/176034735307/some-speech-prompts). 
> 
> TW for ableism in this chapter.

_3\. “Were you crying?”_

* * *

 

”I’m surprised you have the decency to knock,” Aberforth sneered as a way of greeting, reluctantly letting Gellert into their home.

Gellert wanted to ask what his damn problem was, but then again, he knew. Aberforth didn’t like how he kept whisking Albus away, forcing Aberforth to deal with Ariana on his own. Gellert could also sense an undercurrent of jealousy.

But the thing was, Aberforth was simply too dumb to understand or partake in their plans. He had his feet stubbornly planted on the ground, while Gellert and Albus were reaching for the stars. Some things were simply not meant for the ears of the intellectually challenged.

By now, Gellert had the Dumbledore household mapped out by heart. He headed for the wooden staircase, not bothering Aberforth with a reply, lest he’d give in to his inane urge to curse the idiot.

On normal days, Albus would simply leave his window open, allowing the both of them easy access in and out of the house. Today was not a normal day, for some reason Gellert hadn’t figured out yet. They’d parted on good terms the night before – Albus had lamented the human need for sleep, and told him how he’d much rather spend all 24 hours with Gellert.

The closed window either meant that Albus was still asleep, or that he didn’t want Gellert to visit. It was no doubt the former, but Gellert was nevertheless hesitant, as it was almost midday. It felt less wrong to approach Albus’s sleeping body from the inside of the house rather than intruding through the window. Gellert knew that was how Albus would prefer it.

As Gellert stalked through the hallway on the second floor, he distantly heard Ariana humming from her room. He slowed down as he reached her door, pushing it slightly ajar. Ariana was folding clothes in the middle of the floor.

”Hi,” he said softly.

Startled, she jerked her head up, eyes wide in alarm.

Gellert smiled, holding up his hands. ”It’s just me. What have you got there, Ariana?”

She didn’t reply, looking down at her lap, seemingly curling in on herself, gently rocking from side to side. Gellert was endlessly fascinated, but didn’t want to cause an unnecessary explosion. He was also pretty sure Aberforth would show up any second now, always watchful when Gellert was around. ”I’m going to go say hi to Albus now. Have a nice day,” he said lightly, carefully closing the door behind him.

Gellert knocked on Albus’s door to no avail. He tried to pull the handle, and as that did nothing, he whipped out his wand. ” _Alohomora_.” When the lock clicked open, he heard a light thud from inside the room.

Pushing the door open, Gellert’s eyes curiously searched for Albus, finding him with his back to the door, standing in front of his desk, shifting papers. ”Oh, hi Gellert,” he offered, not turning around. He sounded miffed.

Gellert closed the door after himself, faintly wondering what he did wrong, why Albus was upset with him. ”Hi. I thought you were sleeping.”

”I’ve been up since six,” Albus said. He used his wand to refill an ink bottle.

Gellert nodded, even though Albus couldn’t see. He slowly approached him from behind. ”Are you having a cleaning day? I saw Ariana folding some shirts.”

Albus mumbled something intelligible. Gellert came to a stop beside him, staring hard at the side of his face. ”Are you mad at me, or what?”

”What? Why would I be?” Albus frowned, looking over at him. His eyes were red-rimmed.

Gellert blinked. ”What happened?”

Albus looked down at his inkwell, neck turning an unmistakable shade of red. ”Go away, Gellert.”

”Not before you tell me what happened.”

Stubborn silence. Gellert glanced upon Albus’s desk, eyes landing on a periwinkle envelope just a bit to the side of a letter opener. Without preamble, Gellert snatched the envelope, finding a letter inside. Albus made a sound of protest that he ignored.

Gellert’s eyes flew over the page. ”Elphias, who is Elphias?”

Albus positively ripped the letter out of Gellert’s hands. ”Elphias is my friend from Hogwarts. And don’t read my letters, it’s rude.”

”Were you crying because of him?”

Albus huffed, sliding the letter into a desk drawer.

Gellert was starting to grow annoyed now, too. ” _Tell_ me. You know I won’t quit until you do.”

Albus fidgeted a bit, thumbing a quill. ”It’s just that…”

”It’s just what?”

Albus sighed. ”Elphias and I were supposed to travel the world together after taking our N.E.W.Ts. Every time I receive a letter from him, I’m left in a sour mood for the rest of the day, because I’m reminded of what I’m missing out on. While he’s meeting vampires in Transylvania and alchemists in Egypt, I’m stuck here, forever.”

”Stuck here? Forever?” Gellert repeated. ”What do you think our plans for the Greater Good are, some kind of make-believe?” Anger coursed through Gellert’s veins. ”Do you honestly not have more trust in us?”

”Gellert,” Albus began.

”It’s going to happen!”

”It’s just not realistic,” Albus objected. ”What if the hallows aren’t real? We’ll have no ground to stand on.”

Gellert swore and started to pace around the room. ”You mean you’re doubting our plans now, because of this Elphias guy, who can’t even spell ’accommodate’ right?”

”I don’t know,” Albus said vaguely, sitting down on his bed. ”Please don’t be mad. I’m just in a blue funk today.”

Gellert bit his lip, coming to a standstill in front of Albus. ”Can’t you simply tell him to stop sending you letters?”

Albus snorted. ”I’ve known him since my first year of Hogwarts. He’s my best friend.”

Gellert said nothing.

Albus glanced up. ”Not that you aren’t.”

”No, I get it. I’m just not… him.”

”That’s not what I said,” Albus groaned. ”Stop doing that.”

Gellert cleared his throat, looking away. ”Maybe I should go.”

Albus clutched on to Gellert’s sleeve. ”Stay, you idiot. We are just friends. I’ve never liked him like that.”

Gellert raised a brow, but reluctantly sat down beside Albus, who immediately leaned his head on Gellert’s shoulder.

”But you like me like that?” Gellert asked after a beat of silence.

”Of course I do.”

”Good,” Gellert said. Then, after a while: ”I’m going to start sending you letters, too, you know.”

Albus smirked. ”Oh?”

”That way, we could talk all night,” Gellert elaborated.

”That’s assuming I choose to correspond.”

Gellert squinted at him. ”Why wouldn’t you?”

Albus laughed and bopped Gellert’s nose. ”I’m just messing with you. I’d love to be your pen pal.”


	4. 4 “I’m a genius but you make me an idiot”

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Prompt #4 from the speech prompts I found on tumblr (https://thunderbruce.tumblr.com/post/176034735307/some-speech-prompts).

4 “I’m a genius but you make me an idiot” 

* * *

 

Of course, Albus had known MACUSA wouldn’t be able to keep him in custody for too long. It had been a stupid move to arrange the trial to be held in Europe, and he’d established his opinion as such thoroughly in _The Daily Prophet_ and in a letter sent to the Supreme Mugwump of the International Confederation of Wizards.

But it had been all in vain, as he’d figured it’d be, long before the Ministry officials paid him a visit at Hogwarts and showed him the headline of that day’s paper. _GRINDELWALD ESCAPES._

The Ministry workers had been suspicious regarding Albus’s connection to Newt Scamander. Albus could see how they had pieced it together, even though there laid no truth behind that particular statement; He’d never appointed Newt to catch Grindelwald. But Albus could sense that perhaps the aurors were thinking of doing so. It would be pointless, as he told them. Newt was his own person.

As their impromptu meeting came to an end, Travers tried to lighten up the tense mood by saying that maybe Grindelwald would do them all a favour and kill himself before they’d catch him again. Albus had smiled politely and seen them out.

Thoughts were spinning in his head as he made his way through the seventh-floor corridor. He was only vaguely aware of what he was doing before reaching the tapestry of Barnabas the Barmy for the third time. Albus exhaled through his nose and pushed open the door to The Room of Requirement.

The mirror was standing in its usual place. Albus dropped the textbooks he was carrying onto a little counter conveniently placed by the door. The noise of him doing so echoed in the room. The ancient magic laced in this space seemed to whisper to him from every corner, tempting him. Taunting him.

As Albus slowly walked up to the covered mirror, he rolled up his left sleeve. The sensible part of him was screaming in protest to what he was about to do, but the other, more desperate part, was drowning that out.

Albus hadn’t visited the mirror in years, and he was beyond disappointed and disgusted with himself as his hand almost mechanically reached for the cloth and yanked it off. He stared at his own reflection with dread. For a bleak moment, as nothing happened, Albus almost dared to hope. But then he appeared, and Albus’s stomach dropped.

His hair was cut differently. The years had carved themselves into faint lines across his forehead, crevices around his mouth and crow’s feet around his eyes, but the eyes themselves were the same black and gray. Gellert smiled softly, with that familiar warmth and acceptance, and Albus gazed with terror and longing back at him.

Guilt roiled his stomach. Why was he still, after all these years- it was ridiculous, but maybe Gellert missed him too?

No. Unlike Albus, Gellert wouldn’t take decades to recover from an emotional blow.

Albus looked down at his bared forearm and swept a palm over it, revealing the symbol of The Deathly Hallows that he so vehemently liked to hide with about a million different skin coverage spells. But no matter how hard he tried to repress his past, the truth would always be there, etched into his skin, beneath it all.

The Gellert in the mirror rolled his own sleeve up too, revealing an identical symbol of The Deathly Hallows on his forearm. He gave Albus a knowing look.

Albus’s heartbeat sped up. Touching the symbol would be beyond crossing the line. But Travers’s last words were still reverberating in his mind. Albus knew, of course, that Gellert wouldn’t get himself killed, not by accident and definitely not on purpose. Not when the time was so close.

Albus’s right hand hovered hesitantly over his tattoo. He just wanted to make sure, that was all. For the sake of the Wizarding World. And then he’d move on with his life. Get back to grading those essays waiting on his desk.

Very cautiously, Albus placed his fingers in the middle of the symbol on his forearm. He closed his eyes and listened intently. Instantly, Gellert’s rhythmic heartbeat vibrated through his hand and up his arm. Albus's entire being relaxed in relief.

For a few painstakingly long moments, Albus listened, and dreamed his way to long gone better times, but was snapped back to reality when something brushed over his finger pads. With a jolt, Albus immediately broke contact. His heart hammered wildly in his chest, and he knew his face was going red. He could still feel Gellert caressing him through his own tattoo.

Albus stayed frozen in his spot as Gellert brushed his tattoo for a few more moments before stopping. Gellert had not tried to reach Albus via their tattoos for years. A few times in the months that followed their summer, but as Albus hadn’t touched him back, he’d eventually stopped searching for contact. Until now.

Albus looked at Gellert in the mirror. He didn’t know if he was just imagining the sly look on his face.

“I’m a genius,” Albus told mirror-Gellert. “But you make me an idiot.”

It had been so stupid. Now everything was bubbling back to surface, and Albus couldn’t do anything about it. What if Gellert started touching his tattoo regularly again? Albus would have a heart attack in the middle of teaching DADA.  

Sighing with frustration, Albus turned his back on Gellert in the mirror and hurried out of the suffocating air of the room. Albus had to do something to ease the overwhelming storm of anxiety within, and that something would have to involve the help of the only person that had managed to capture the love of his life as of yet - Newt Scamander. 

 


	5. 5 “Wanna ditch this lame party?” “It’s our party.”

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Prompt #5 from the speech prompts I found on tumblr (https://thunderbruce.tumblr.com/post/176034735307/some-speech-prompts). 
> 
> Evil!Dumbledore in this chapter!

_5 “Would you like to ditch this lame party?”_

_“It’s our party.”_

* * *

 

It’s not like Gellert was worried. Albus had gone off on longer missions than this before. He’d traveled to other continents and left Gellert alone for days on end, not bothering to send an owl with a message of any kind due to paranoia that it’d be snapped up somewhere on the way.

Albus trusted Gellert, and Gellert trusted him. They had each other’s word, and therefore there was no need to reassure the other of their well-being. Gellert knew Albus was the most talented wizard of the century and that there was next to no chance of him getting killed by some amateurish British auror-in-the-making. It was downright ridiculous that Gellert’s mind kept skittering back to Albus when he was supposed to focus on doing his part.

Gellert’s part, in this case, was hosting a banquet for their inner circle in Nurmengaard. The castle was brimming with witches and wizards from all over the globe. Laughter and rumbling conversation clung to every corner. Gellert himself was charming his way around the upper floors. It was almost amusing how the guests chose to stick to their cohorts, distinguished mostly by land of origin. He kept suggesting they’d mingle while introducing some influential pure-bloods from across the world to their European counterparts.

As the party was by no means small, the whole castle was obviously supervised by Swiss aurors lurking in the shadows, the pompous idiots thinking they were being discreet. Albus and Gellert had planned this, allowing magical enforcement officials to pass through security. The gist was to have them think Albus and Gellert were too busy partying it up to be doing anything particularly political that evening.

Gellert glanced about the room for the Albus-decoy and found him talking to a particularly handsome Italian Quidditch player. Even though Gellert knew this wasn’t the real Albus - just a wonderfully forged transfiguration job - Gellert couldn’t help the sudden blow of jealousy to his gut. Had the man not seen the ring on his finger?

The real Albus would not fall for a man like that, Gellert assured himself as he occasionally glanced over when he wasn’t too busy pretending to listen to the Brazilian Minister of Magic. It was worrying that the fake-Albus was acting so out of character. It was getting increasingly more difficult to ignore the decoy. When the Quidditch player suddenly clapped a hand down on the decoy’s shoulder as they shared a laugh, Gellert was just about done.

Swooping in, he stole the fake Albus and headed for the deserted balcony with him, the aurors be damned. The night air outside helped cool his temper to some degree. Shoving the Albus-decoy against a wall, Gellert’s hand dug into his pocket for his wand.

“I knew I should’ve helped him with this,” Gellert muttered as he let enhancement spells from the tip of his wand be absorbed into the decoy’s forehead.

“What makes you think I didn’t do a good enough job with him?” a familiar voice asked, and suddenly arms were embracing him from behind.

Gellert closed his eyes and almost let out a sigh of relief, his whole body going lax. “ _Evanesco_ ,” Gellert said, and the decoy was gone.

In the silence that followed, Albus continued. “I mean, I didn’t transfer _all_ of my memories to him, of course, as I figured there’d be some risk with the aurors being here. I know you can hold your own, but as great as this copy was, it was just that. A duplicate.”

“First of all, the aurors would never dare to challenge you. Nor me, for that matter. Definitely not both of us when we’re in the same room, together. And secondly, this duplicate spent the past thirty minutes flirting with one of our guests,” Gellert remarked, voice mildly accusing.

“Ah,” Albus said simply. “Someone very handsome, I assume? I like to think I have an exquisite taste in men,” he all but purred, one hand trailing down Gellert’s vest.

“Not that good-looking,” Gellert muttered darkly.

Albus hummed. “Shall we go inside and have a look? I’m curious now, actually,” he said, moving towards the door.

Gellert quite forcefully grabbed Albus’s arm and pushed him up against the wall. Albus groaned into Gellert’s mouth as Gellert passionately drew a kiss out of him.

After long minutes of chasing his mouth, Gellert gasped for air against Albus’s neck. Albus’s chest heaved as he laughed. He pulled Gellert closer by the lapels of his jacket and leaned his forehead against Gellert’s shoulder. “I missed you so much,” he murmured.

Gellert ran a hand through Albus’s hair, holding him close. “Did you kill him?”

Albus nodded against his shoulder. “I lured him into the Department of Mysteries after office hours and apparated back as soon as I was out of there. Left the walls splattered with his blood - I got a tad too excited, I think. You should’ve seen. I was completely drenched, too.”

Gellert moaned. “I definitely wouldn’t mind a reenactment. Or a quick look into your pensieve.”

“I wouldn’t mind a quick look into your pants,” Albus teased, nipping at Gellert’s throat with his teeth. “Would you like to ditch this lame party?”

Gellert smiled. “It’s our party.”

Albus skimmed his hands down Gellert’s back. “And I’m sure you wouldn’t want to miss one second of me going in there and continuing whatever conversation I had with what-was-his-name?”

“I didn’t say a name.”

“Shall we find out?” Albus whispered into his ear. “I could give you that reenactment you want to see. We could sneak this guy past the aurors and have our fun with him.”

Enormous feelings of affection welled up in Gellert’s chest. “I love you so much,” he sighed into Albus’s hair, hugging him close.

 


	6. 6. “You’re more than your magic”

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Prompt #6 from the speech prompts I found on tumblr (https://thunderbruce.tumblr.com/post/176034735307/some-speech-prompts).

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> TRIPLE UPDATE! I’ve missed out on two weeks since starting this project, so I’m making up for it by publishing prompts 6, 7 and 8 now, at the same time.
> 
> TW for child abuse in this chapter.

_6\. “You’re more than your magic”_

* * *

 

Albus’s eyes snapped open. They slowly adjusted to the contours of his bedroom. It was still dark outside, and he had no idea why he’d suddenly woken up. As he really thought about it, he was surprised he’d even fallen asleep in the first place.

The previous evening, some minutes after Albus had sent yet another letter to Gellert and was nervously waiting for his reply, there had been knocking on his window. Albus was appalled as not an owl, but Gellert himself, had climbed through with a grin curving his lips. It was the same excited grin he’d get whenever he had a brilliant idea he couldn’t wait to share with Albus.

Naturally, they’d talked for hours, whispering passionately as to not wake Albus’s siblings. At first, they’d been sitting on the floor, sketching and writing down ideas while brainstorming, but then, at some point, ended up on Albus’s bed, their voices growing heavy as sleep slowly sank its teeth into them.

Feeling anxious, Albus searched for Gellert’s body beside him in the dark. Relief flooded his entire being when his hand found Gellert’s upper arm. He’d already started to doubt whether last night had even been real. Being with Gellert, at any point of day or night, was like a dream come true. It was sunshine and rainbows and butterflies in the pit of his stomach. Albus didn’t know how he’d managed to live without him for the past eighteen years.

Gellert turned in his sleep, and Albus stared at his silhouette as his mind ran over the happenings of last night. He wasn’t as interested in the things they’d said about the hallows and their plans as he was about the subtleties: the glint in Gellert’s eyes, those moments when their hands brushed as they tried to demonstrate a point for each other on parchment, Gellert’s voice and the way he put emphasis on “we” and “us” and “together”, Gellert’s hair, Gellert’s freckles, Gellert’s eyelashes, Gellert’s teeth, Gellert, Gellert, Gellert.

Albus was pulled from his reverie as Gellert turned in his sleep again, this time whining under his breath, his leg kicking a bit.

“Gellert?” Albus whispered. He gently ran his hand down an arm and found that his best friend was drenched in sweat.

Gellert awoke with a gasp and jerked from Albus’s touch, squirming as far away from him as he possibly could without falling off the bed.

Albus waited silently as Gellert’s labored breathing slowed down. He sat with his head in his knees, fingers twisted into his hair, shaking.

 “Bad dream?” Albus asked hesitantly. He was aching to reach out and comfort Gellert but didn’t know if it was his place to do so.

“I- yeah,” Gellert said thickly.

Albus had no words. He felt shy and stupid and awkward just looking at Gellert, and it was so selfish of him – here Gellert sat in obvious distress, and Albus didn’t even know how to comfort his friend properly. He nervously licked his lips. “Do you want to tell me what it was about? The dream?”

Gellert exhaled and very subtly used his left sleeve to wipe his nose and eyes. It was starting to get light outside, so when Gellert turned to look at him, Albus could almost see how red-rimmed his eyes were.

“No,” Gellert whispered, and Albus's heart sank. “But I could show you.”

“Show me? How?” Albus asked, perplexed. Gellert crept closer to Albus on the bed. He reached for Albus’s face and held it in his hands, level to his own. Albus’s heart raced one hundred miles a minute. “What are you-“

“Look into my eyes, Albus. Look deeply.”

There wasn’t really anywhere else for Albus to look. He cleared his throat and stared into Gellert’s eyes. He was just about to ask another question pertaining to what Gellert was trying to achieve here, when the oddest feeling grew from Albus’s stomach all the way to the strands of his hair. It washed over him all at once as he was quite literally sucked into Gellert’s gaze.

The next thing Albus knew, he was standing in a spacious living room, at dusk. The wind outside was rattling the windows, and a fire crackled in the fireplace across from one of the lavish, emerald green sofas behind which a seven-year old Gellert was hiding. He was hugging his legs, his whole body shaking.

“I know you’re here, somewhere,” the voice of a man slurred. Albus looked up and saw a blond man scanning the room. He was wielding a wand that he kept pointing around the room at random. “Show yourself, you filthy muggle. _Homenum revelio_.”

Tiny Gellert decided to make a run for it, jolting from his hiding place and running across the room. The man with the wand had quick reflexes, however. With a slash of his wand, Gellert’s body was slung into the wooden frame of a painting hanging on the wall, his lithe form sinking down to the floor as the man roared with laughter.

“You thought you could run away from me, huh? Fucking squib. Use your magic, Gellert, _use it!_ _Crucio!_ ”

Gellert yowled in pain, his body convulsing in the violent, green light of the Cruciatus curse. The man laughed and Albus screamed. It was too much noise, it was as if his brain was permeated with it.

Albus blinked, back in his own bed, with Gellert’s hand covering his mouth. Creaking steps were approaching his room. “I think you woke up the entire village with that scream,” Gellert hissed into his ear. “I’m going to hide in your wardrobe now.”

Gellert had barely closed the closet door behind him when bleary-eyed Aberforth and Ariana peeked into Albus’s room. Albus assured them he’d just had a very bad dream, apologized and quickly tried to herd his siblings out of his space. Aberforth seemed a bit suspicious but ultimately shrugged and said he would’ve woken up around this time anyway since he’d have to go feed his goats.

When Gellert stepped out of Albus’s closet, the slight amusement in his eyes died out as he saw whatever he saw in Albus’s gaze. “And now you know,” he muttered, moving closer.

Albus sat down on his bed. His face was wet. He’d never felt more disgusted in his entire life. At what he’d seen, at what Gellert had endured, at the fact that Albus hadn’t been there to help him. He was speechless. Albus almost didn’t even notice that Gellert was holding his hand, rubbing comforting circles to the back of it.

“My magical abilities didn’t show until I was around eight or nine,” Gellert explained. “My parents thought I was a squib for the longest time. When I could show them that I wasn’t, things got a bit easier.” He paused. “Once we’ve acquired the hallows and rule the world… they’ll finally see my true worth.”

Albus looked up at him in shock. Gellert picked up a napkin out of thin air and handed it to him. Albus held the napkin tightly in his fist. “Gellert,” he rasped. “You’re so much more than your magic.”

Gellert shrugged and looked away. “Magic is who we are.”

“No, you don’t understand,” Albus pressed on. “You’re so, so smart and funny and considerate. You’re the best person I know.”

Gellert ducked his head. “Albus.”  

Albus stood up, overcome with a heady need to get his point across as he threw his arms around his best friend, embracing him tightly. Gellert seemed a bit unsure at first but hugged him back soon enough.

When they broke apart, there was something unspoken in the air as they softy smiled at each other.

Albus tucked a strand of hair behind his ear. “I know I just said you’re more than your magic and all that,” he ventured. “But could you _please_ teach me how to do that memory thing? It was wicked.”

Albus's plea startled a laugh out of Gellert. “Yeah, of course I’ll teach you.”

 


	7. 7. “I thought I’d lost you”

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Prompt #7 from the speech prompts I found on tumblr (https://thunderbruce.tumblr.com/post/176034735307/some-speech-prompts).

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> TRIPLE UPDATE! I’ve missed out on two weeks since starting this project, so I’m making up for it by publishing prompts 6, 7 and 8 now, at the same time.
> 
> TW for attempted suicide in this chapter. 
> 
> And yes, this is a Christmas chapter, which, I know, not ideal for Halloween, but how about we collectively blame Mariah Carey for this, y/y?

_7\. “I thought I’d lost you”_

* * *

 

Albus couldn’t really make out Aberforth in the house, but the glow of light in the kitchen told him that he definitely was inside. He tried to envision what his brother could be doing. Maybe he had some guests over for dinner. It was Christmas, after all. It was strange that no names or faces came to mind when Albus thought of Aberforth’s aquaintances. The years of disconnect from his brother was jarring in so many ways.

Albus was standing outside in the snow, right where light met shadow. He’d been standing there for minutes, undecided. The last time he’d approached Aberforth, things had gone smoothly enough, at first. They had been all polite small-talk, catching up on the past ten years of life until Albus inevitably took a leap of faith and ruined everything by briefly mentioning their mother.

The fallout that followed had discouraged Albus from seeking out Aberforth for many, many years. Was there even a point in fixing something unfixable? He wanted his brother back, the way they’d bicker without any emotional baggage behind the words. He wanted the comfort of speaking without thinking. But as the years went by, Albus realized it was yet another dream of his that he’d eventually have to let go of.

It was time to move along. The snow creaked unpleasantly underneath his boots as Albus shifted. It was unusually chilly for a late December evening. Albus buried his nose further into his scarf as he strode on, a new destination in mind.

Despite the cold, Godric’s Hollow looked beautiful in a way Albus had never bothered to appreciate in his youth. Icicles hung from the corners of rooftops, snow covered every fence, treetop, hedge and house like cotton candy. The voices of the church choir carried through the air, keeping Albus company across the market square, all the way down to the cemetary.

Albus used his gloved hand to wipe off the snow covering the gravestone. The epitaph on it shone stark against the illuminated tip of his wand. _”Where your treasure is, there will your heart be also”._

As Albus stood there, regrets and longing blending into his very own, personal brand of a Christmas cocktail, he absentmindedly clicked the lighter in his pocket. He usually did so whenever he was feeling stressed, sad or deep in thought.

The whole self-loathing aspect of this annual trip was especially heavy tonight. Albus was numb to the bone, his thoughts a sludge of incoherence. The fact that he couldn’t even muster a tear didn’t plague him, as it usually did. He was just so done with it all. Year after year, it always ended with him alone, in front of the decaying remnants of his family members, wishing he was down there with them.

Albus thought he heard approaching footsteps. Turning, he scanned the dark area around him. Far ahead, the muggles in the church seemed to be done with their business as they swarmed out of the building in a steady stream of loud voices and laughter. Albus whispered a quick _nox_. He didn’t want to be seen.

Turning on the spot, Albus apparated to the lakeside of the forest surrounding Godric’s Hollow. The area looked vastly different in wintertime. It was as if it had been just yesterday that he’d lazed in the grass, practiced spells and bothered the grindylow that occasionally rose to the surface as it curiously checked up on the wizards nearby.

Albus closed his eyes and recalled golden hair bathing in the sunlight. The way Gellert had teased him for refusing to dip his whole body in the cold water, the incessant _”I thought Gryffindors were lions and not chickens.”_

Biting his lip, Albus opened his eyes. It was downright ridiculous that he was getting emotional now. This was the way to go. His subconscious had decided this for him a long time ago, no matter how much he now was trying to convince himself to back out, or that other solutions were available.

Albus pointed his wand at the lake. ” _Reducto._ ”

The peacful quiet was cut off by the exploding thunder of the ice of the entire lake blasting into pieces. Gellert would’ve whistled under his breath if he’d seen this, Albus thought wistfully as he dropped his wand into the snow and stalked towards the water while removing layers of clothing. Whenever Albus had showed Gellert the full extent of his magical abilities, he’d always been very impressed, but not in the overbearing kind of way that other people were when they saw Albus in action.

The two of them would have been so good together.

Albus shivered involuntarily as he dropped his last piece of cloth. This was no time for hesitance, for Merlin’s sake. Albeit no lion, Albus wasn’t a chicken. Maybe he’d end up as Christmas dinner for the grindylow, if it was still alive. At least he’d be of use then, for once in his miserable, soon-to-be-ending life.

The water was violently cold, but Albus persisted despite every nerve in his body telling him to turn around. The worst part was getting his head under the water. He almost gave up due to the pure pain of it, his entire physical being screaming in protest.

Albus was a good swimmer. (Gellert had been even better, which made sense, considering he’d gone to Durmstrang and all.) If he just kept going further, down to the colder temperatures, he’d come across any kind of creature that could take him, knock out the rest of the air in his lungs and hinder him from floating back to the surface. He’d be gone in a heartbeat.

The darkness was all-encompassing, but Albus was sure there’d now be dark spots embellishing his vision if he could see anything. Something grabbed his ankle. Relieved, Albus finally let go.

A familiar voice was calling for him. Smiling, Albus knew he’d made the right choice if this truly was what came after death.

The voice grew louder.

” _-vate, Rennervate!_ Albus, please.”

Albus was so cold. He blinked open wet eyelashes, an involuntary cough ripping from his lungs. A hand roamed up his chest, stopping somewhere below his neck. The hard bone of a knee pressed into his back.

The mismatched eyes of one Gellert Grindelwald looked down at him in concern. ”I thought I’d lost you."

Albus had a distant feeling something was very wrong here, but he couldn’t move. His teeth chattered. The Elder Wand showed up in Albus’s line of vision as Gellert pointed it to his body and whispered a plethora of hot-air charms. Warmth instantly embraced him, replacing the cold wetness.

Gellert pulled him up to his feet. The snow around them had melted from the strength of Gellert’s magic, creating a small, muddy green island in the middle of the vast snowscape. Albus’s thoughts were suddenly crystal clear.

Of course he was still naked. ”Where is my wand?” Albus rasped.

Gellert used a summoning charm and then handed it to him right away. Albus ran his fingertips over the familar runes on the handle before transfiguring his clothes back onto himself. Shivering, he used a drying spell on them. He wasn’t sure how long his clothes had been laying in the snow. It couldn’t have been much longer than a couple of minutes.

”Who sent you?” Albus snarled, pointing his wand to Gellert, who was standing way too close, in Albus's humble opinion.

Gellert shifted in his spot. His arms hung loosely at his sides. A frown between his eyebrows. ”What do you mean, who sent me? You sent me.”

”I don’t know what your game is,” Albus hissed. ”But you better tell me how you found me in three seconds flat, or you’ll find yourself in very unfortunate circumstances.”

Gellert raised an eyebrow and then looked away. ”Thank you?” he muttered under his breath. Then cleared his throat. ”I don’t know how you did it, but you called me down to the cemetary tonight.”

”Elaborate.”

”Well,” Gellert drawled. ”I was just minding my business in an undisclosed location when this orb of light appeared in front of me. It’s not like I immediately thought of touching it. On the contrary, I was thinking of ways to dissect it, when, uh.” Gellert paused. ”It’s going to sound crazy if I say it.”

Albus took a step closer, pointing his wand to Gellert’s jaw. ”Say it.”

Gellert studied his eyes for a moment. ”I know it doesn’t make any sense, but I think I… I think I thought some of your thoughts.”

Albus bristled. ”What do you mean?”

”You were thinking of… well, me. My name, a couple of times.”

”No, I wasn’t.”

”In any case,” Gellert continued, as if Albus hadn’t said anything, ”The orb of light flew into me, and suddenly I knew were you were. So I apparated to the cemetary.”

Albus’s heart raced. ”Why didn’t I see you then, back there?”

”It was dark. I didn’t know how to approach you, so I stayed back. Waiting… But then you disapparated. I thought you wanted to show me something, so I apparated around. Then I heard the ice, and I knew your whereabouts. You were already in the water when I showed up.”

Albus realized Gellert was still dripping wet. Strands of his hair and moustache had clumped together into solid ice particles. But it wasn’t like Albus was going to do anything about that; Gellert had the Elder Wand in his grasp. He could do whatever he pleased.

”I thought I’d lost you,” Gellert said again, echoing his statement from earlier.

Albus laughed humorlessly, but dropped his wand to his side. ”What makes you think you had me in the first place?”

Gellert was quiet for a moment, but then bridged the distance between them. Albus stiffened as Gellert held his face between his icy, cold hands. ”Don’t _ever_ do that again,” he whispered, looking intently into Albus’s eyes.  

”I won’t,” Albus replied a moment later, speaking past the lump in his throat.

Gellert nodded. He dropped his hands and took a step back, finally using the heating charms on himself. Albus watched his elegant wand movement under silence.

When Gellert was done, he held his palm out for Albus. ”Shall we?”

Albus took hold of his hand and Gellert turned on the spot.

 


	8. 8. “Did you even notice I was gone?”

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Prompt #8 from the speech prompts I found on tumblr (https://thunderbruce.tumblr.com/post/176034735307/some-speech-prompts).

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> TRIPLE UPDATE! I’ve missed out on two weeks since starting this project, so I’m making up for it by publishing prompts 6, 7 and 8 now, at the same time.

_8\. “Did you even notice I was gone”_

* * *

 

Albus found Gellert burning the midnight oil. He didn’t even glance up as Albus marched into the room. The tip of his nose nearly pressed down to the parchment, his quill making quick strokes as he finished up a sentence.

Stopping short in front of Gellert’s desk, Albus cleared his throat. Gellert stopped writing and looked up, smiling softly at him.

”I’m back,” Albus announced, spreading his arms out in a grand gesture. ”Technically been back for the past two hours.”

”You’re back,” Gellert repeated. He leaned back in his chair and rubbed fatigue out of his eyes. ”Back from, uh, where exactly?”

Mischief danced in Albus’s eyes as he slinked around the desk, dropping himself into Gellert’s lap. ”My trip to Paris?” He wrapped his arms around Gellert’s neck. ”Did you even notice I was gone?” he mused, tilting his head to kiss along Gellert’s jaw.

Gellert’s hands roamed down Albus’s back, pulling him flush against his body. ”I’m so sorry Albus,” he apologized, lips pressing into Albus’s cheek, voice genuine with remorse. ”I’ve been inside my head too much, lately.”

”I can relate,” Albus said, petting the short, buzzed strands of hair at the back of Gellert’s neck. He then leaned out of his space a bit, his arm reaching back to snatch the parchment Gellert had been writing on. ”What’s this?” Albus asked, eyes skimming down the page.

”Our manifesto, I was thinking. It still needs your approval, though. I could read it to you in bed tonight, if you’d like,” Gellert purred.

A smile teased the corner of Albus’s lip. ”You could, indeed.”

”Mm. How was Paris?”

Albus thought about it for a bit as Gellert pressed the side of his face to Albus’s again, nosing along his cheekbone.

”Good, I think,” Albus decided. ”I retracted all the necessary memories. Carrow was of great help. I don’t think we left anything traceable behind.”

”Good job,” Gellert mouthed at his ear.

Albus smiled and ducked his head, glowing under the praise. ”Yeah, well. I was hoping you’d come with me, next time. Prague, was it?”

Gellert rested his hands on Albus’s hips, his heartbeat speeding up a bit. ”Actually,” he said. ”I think we’ll have to reschedule Prague.” Gellert licked his lips. ”I think- I think I’ve located the resurrection stone.”

A pause. Albus locked eyes with him. As Gellert looked seriously back, yet another smile slowly spread over Albus’s lips. ”You have, have you?”

Gellert nodded, smiling now, too.

Albus laughed breathlessly, cupping Gellert’s face to kiss him senseless. ”You brilliant man, you,” Albus marveled, leaning his forehead against Gellert’s. ”You always have to one-up me, huh? Is there anything you _can’t_ do?”

Gellert grinned, stealing another kiss from Albus. Happiness swelled in their souls. ”It’s in Britain, in Little Hangleton,” Gellert told Albus. ”Let’s leave first thing in the morning.”

”Let’s,” Albus agreed. ”But first,” he stated, standing up and playfully waving the manifesto in Gellert’s face, ”But first, bed time.”

 


	9. 9 “I wish you wouldn’t have said that”

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Prompt #9 from the speech prompts I found on tumblr (https://thunderbruce.tumblr.com/post/176034735307/some-speech-prompts).

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Contains movie spoilers and pining.

_9\. “I wish you wouldn’t have said that”_

* * *

 

Gellert was exhausted. Making sure Aurelius got his training while at the same time pursuing world domination was not an easy feat, by any means. Abernathy had been of great help as a test subject, succumbed to being petrified and thrown against walls like a ragdoll to ensure Aurelius knew his basic skill set.

That night, Gellert had duelled Aurelius, just to get a general sense of where he was at, in terms of control and accuracy. Aurelius was persistent, but he still struggled with nonverbal magic and keeping his obscurus in check. Queenie was there to interfere whenever Aurelius had to take a break, which was all too often. It annoyed Gellert to no end. He needed Aurelius to achieve perfection at a much quicker pace than this.

Albus had been a fast learner, back then. It had intimidated Gellert as much as it had thrilled him.

His lips curled into a bitter smile as he made his way through the upper corridors of Nurmengard castle. Anger soared through him. Two weeks had passed since Gellert had sent Albus a letter. He had debated for a long time whether to send it or not, since Gellert usually preferred having people come to him, instead of the other way around.

But the thing was – Gellert had already tried pulling the strings, and all Albus did was order that bloody pawn of a magizoologist around the globe instead of directly facing him. And Aurelius wasn’t yet a fool proof method of defeating Albus, in any way. Gellert was growing impatient. Desperate times called for desperate measures, and so what if Albus hadn’t replied to him yet?

At this point, Gellert didn’t even care if it made him seem like the more pathetic one out of the two. He was a very busy man, and he needed Albus to get off his dick for just one second so that he could achieve his means for peace, well, in peace. If Albus didn’t want to join him, they needed to meet up so that Gellert could remind him what the dire consequences of his actions were and of what powers he was messing with. Simple as that.

Walking into his bedchambers, Gellert locked the door with the first five spells at the top of his head as he slipped off his jacket, dropping it onto a settee. He removed his shoes as he continued contemplating his problems.

Gellert was so caught up in his thoughts that it took him a moment to notice the unusual, foreboding atmosphere of the room. Halfway through unbuttoning his vest, he looked up, only to find Albus Dumbledore perched on an armchair in the middle of the room.

Gellert froze, stomach swooping.

His wand was is his back pocket. Albus was holding his own in his lap. In the second that it would take for Gellert to reach for his, Albus could do anything.

It didn’t seem like Albus was there to kill him, though, as the seconds stretched on with neither of them making a move. Which could only mean one thing. Carefully, Gellert unbuttoned the rest of his vest, never letting go of Albus’s face as he draped it over the settee as well.

No newspaper clipping could really compare to, or prepare you, for the intensity of Albus’s piercing blue gaze. Gellert cast an eye down his body. He was dazzling in a three-piece suit and a burgundy tie that brought out the auburn in his hair. Legs crossed, arms lax, it was almost as if he had been lounging, waiting for Gellert to appear.

It was obviously just a carefully prepared façade on Albus’s part. Gellert knew that. No matter how calm and collected Albus seemed with his body language, his true panic was simmering underneath the surface, just like Gellert’s.

Gellert sauntered over to his dresser, removing his cufflinks. He cleared his throat. “You could have used the front door, you know. I probably would have let you in.”

Albus was smiling now, almost reverently. “My apologies. I happened to be in Vienna over the weekend and thought I might as well stop by. I figured that’d be more time-saving than just penning a reply.”

“And?” Gellert asked, clenching his teeth. “Have you figured out a way to destroy it, beside the obvious?” 

A carefully measured pause. “I’m working on it.”

Gellert couldn’t help but be taken aback with that answer. 

“And should I be expecting positive news soon, professor?” Gellert asked, sarcasm thick in his voice. He turned and started unbuttoning his shirt. “You can’t wait to have me out of your veins, I reckon.”

Albus regarded him calmly, not rising to the bait. “Likewise, I’d hope.”

Gellert slowly exhaled. His eyes felt strangely wet with emotion, so he closed them. “So that’s it, then?” he asked, once he knew his voice wouldn’t shake with anger. “You’re figuring out another way to break the pact and came all the way over here, just to tell me.”

“Essentially, yes,” Albus said, finally standing up and walking over to him. “But-“

Gellert opened his eyes. “But what?”

“Well,” Albus said, tilting his head. “I wanted to make sure you were all right with that.”

White-hot fury curled tightly in Gellert’s chest. “Why wouldn’t I be?”

Albus locked eyes with his, and for the first time, Gellert saw a glimpse of uncertainty behind them. It was gone as soon as it had appeared. “Possible side effects,” he finally said. “I don’t know if you will feel the things I feel on my end when I mess with the pendant.”

“I haven’t felt anything yet.”

Albus smiled. “That’s good, then.”

Gellert narrowed his eyes. “You know we are going to have to kill each other, either way, once the pendant has been destroyed.”

“Yes,” Albus nodded. “But that doesn’t mean I’d want to subject you to torture in the meantime.”

Gellert huffed. “How noble of you.”

Albus said nothing. He took one step closer to Gellert, so that they were almost touching. They lapsed into a silence, staring into each other’s eyes. All pretence of the conversation was gone. At the end of the day, they were just two halves suffering at the hands of their own naivete.  

Gellert's eyes flickered down to Albus’s lips as his heart did a dangerous thing in his chest. “So,” he said, and _by Merlin_ , why did his voice sound like that? “Do you plan on staying for the night?”

Albus’s breath hitched. He took a step back, eyes skating down and lingering on Gellert’s unbuttoned shirt before looking away, visibly swallowing. “No. I have somewhere else to be tonight.”

Gellert’s gut twisted. “I wish you wouldn’t have said that," he admitted.

Albus’s eyes flickered back to him. His expression was unreadable. It used to annoy Gellert, back in their summer. Even powerful occlumenses couldn’t necessarily always hide behind their open books of facial expressions, but Albus was, of course, an entirely different breed of wizard. 

As he marched past him to the door, his shoulder almost brushed Gellert’s.

“What’s Newt Scamander doing nowadays?” Gellert asked, the question ripping out of his throat without permission.

Albus turned back, eyes scanning, as if considering him. “I believe he’s currently working on his next book on magical creatures.”

“In Britain?”

Albus’s mouth quirked. “In Britain, yes.”

Gellert hummed. Albus seemed like he was on the verge of saying something, or like he was waiting for Gellert to say something. When neither happened, he simply nodded and drew his wand, undoing all five locking spells on the door in quick succession. He softly closed the door behind him as he left without another word.

Only now, in the deafening silence, did Gellert notice his heightened pulse. Albus’s magic still lingered in the room, indefinite but permeating. He had no idea how he’d be able to catch any sleep that night.


	10. 10. “I am not babysitting”

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Prompt #10 from the speech prompts I found on tumblr (https://thunderbruce.tumblr.com/post/176034735307/some-speech-prompts).

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So, in light of the deleted scenes of tcog being released, I decided to base this prompt around one of the Aurelius Dumbledore theories going around. Although I adjusted certain points, my main reference for this prompt is this video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d9Tq4UhzmqU. You don't need to watch it to understand the fic, though. :P

_10\. “I am not babysitting”_

* * *

 

Gellert boosted himself up to sit on the branch beside Albus. They had been conversing his seeing abilities for the better part of the afternoon, and Gellert was eager to get to the part where they discussed a certain vision of his.

”So what I’m saying is, seers are predisposed to receiving visions in a number of different ways.”

Albus nodded thoughtfully, his back leaning against the solid trunk of the tree. A bird chirped somewhere above them. ”Yours are visual.”

”Yes. Some hear them, some see them, some speak them. My mother is an auditory seer.”

”I didn’t know that. It runs in the family, then.”

Gellert hummed and smiled at the clear interest in Albus’s eyes at the mention of his mother. They hadn’t talked much about Gellert’s family yet. Albus was way too polite to actually pry for personal information. He simply listened and filled in the gaps, and that was one reason on an infinite list of why Albus was Gellert’s perfect match.

”In the summer right before the start of my sixth year at Durmstrang, I randomly delivered an auditory prophecy about myself after having some of my mother’s herbal infused tea. _An obscurial will kill the man I fear_. At the time, I obviously had no idea what that meant. I didn’t fear any man, and I don’t fear anyone now either.”

Albus listened intently.

”In any case, I became obsessed with the prophecy. I was desperate to have an obscurus in my possession, but none had been sighted for centuries. I didn’t want the man I fear, whoever that’d turn out to be, to interfere with my plans of finding the hallows. Our plans now,” Gellert added with a wry quirk of a smile.

Albus returned his smile. ”So when you told me you were expelled because you took Potions too seriously-”

”I was trying to create an obscurus, yes.”

Albus leaned forward. ”And did you succeed?”

”No.” Gellert huffed. ”My teachers caught wind of my plans while they still were in their early stages. I don’t think I would’ve succeeded, in any case. Alchemy is not my strongest suit.”

Albus could sense what Gellert was getting at. ”You’ve figured out Ariana is an obscurus.”

Gellert slowly nodded, his eyes impossible to read.

Albus wasn’t sure what to say. Something was rubbing him the wrong way. ”You want us to take Ariana with us, to use her illness to serve a greater purpose?”

”No,” Gellert said quickly. ”I have-”

”Because I would never agree to that,” Albus said, his voice dire.

Gellert smiled softly. He held on to one of Albus’s hands, caressing the back of it with his thumb. ”Of course you wouldn’t. I’d never suggest such a thing.”

Gellert could feel tension seep out of Albus. There was a short, awkward halt in conversation.

”I’m sorry,” Albus said. ”It was blunt of me to assume-”

”Water under the bridge, Albus dear.”

Albus hummed. ”So what were you saying, before?

Gellert took a deep breath. He looked like he was considering his next words carefully. ”I want us to remove the obscurus from Ariana. Permanently.”

Albus raised a brow, intrigued.

Gellert leaned closer to him. ”Think about it. You sister would finally be free, your burdens would be over. We could travel without worrying she might kill anyone at the drop of a needle.”

”That’s all very true, and sounds nice in theory,” Albus allowed. ”But to remove it? That’s impossible. And if we succeed, there’s no saying the obscurus won’t bust out and pick one of us as its new host.”

”Ah, but I have taken that into account. We simply need a vessel for the obscurus, in case we can’t harness it.”

”What kind of vessel?” Albus asked, suspicious. 

Gellert wore a mysterious smile. ”Have you ever heard of the term homunculus?”

”Sure,” Albus said. ”They’re discussed in several Alchemy books of mine. Paracelsus was the first to create one.”

”So you know what they are?”

Albus stretched out a leg over Gellert’s lap. ”As I recall, they are essentially little, artificially created humans.”

”Yes!” Gellert’s arm shot out to brace himself, as he almost fell from their shared branch in his excitement. ”And we could create one.”

Albus made a face. Gellert tilted his head, a silent question.

”Don’t you feel it’s a bit… morally reprehensible?” Albus ventured. ”We’re talking about attaching a dark, parasitical magical force to an actual human being, artificially created as it may or may not be.”

”Albus,” Gellert said fondly. ”That’s the thing. It’s not a human being. It’s a homunculus! It’s a creature more beast than human.”

Albus’s eyes searched Gellert’s. ”How can you be so sure of that? A little human. By the sound of it, it will possess the mental capabilities of one too.”

”A little human sounds to me more like a goblin, or a house-elf,” Gellert argued.

”And they are capable of intelligent thought,” Albus pointed out. Gellert snorted in disagreement, so Albus continued, ”In any case, we can’t subject anything to that kind of mental torment, be it a beast or a human, intelligent or not. I will not stand for it.”

”We obviously won’t treat it like vermin,” Gellert maintained. ”It’d be born with the obscurus inside. It won’t know what life without it would be. It will adapt.”

”But obscuruses are  _parasitical_.”

”To humans, yes! But this is a homunculus.” Gellert threw his hands out. ”A completely different case! I’ve read _all_ about it!”

Albus squinted. ”Where?”

”Do you honestly think I’m spouting lies? I’ll show you the book,” Gellert laughed. ”Come on, Albus! It will be loyal to its creators! Do you not see how useful a homunculus would be? We wouldn’t have to inflict violence on anyone, if we had one! It’s the perfect threat.”

”And a threat it would have to remain.”

”Of course.”

Albus gazed out over the meadow beneath them in thought.

”It’s the perfect idea, is it not?”

”It’s not half bad,” Albus admitted. ”If you ignore the fact that it’s doomed to kill your worst enemy.”

”All that freedom, with just a little bit of effort,” Gellert went on, ignoring Albus’s latter statement. When he received no reply, Gellert continued, ”A physical being, living proof of our eternal bond together. The product of our love. Do you not see the allusion I’m making here?”

Albus’s mouth tipped up in a slight smile. ”Oh, believe me, I do.”

Gellert raised their intertwined hands to his lips, kissing the back of Albus’s hand. A pregnant pause stretched out between them.

”Fine,” Albus finally said, rolling his eyes fondly. ”Let’s do it.”

Gellert’s smile bloomed into something breathtaking.

 -

At first, it was a matter of intense research. Albus wrote lengthy letters to alchemists he had become acquainted with when he received his gold medal for Ground-Breaking Contribution to the International Alchemical Conference in Cairo a few years back. He made sure to conceal his true intentions – he was just really interested in the subject, and wanted some reading recommendations. Gellert did his part as well, combing through Mrs Bagshot’s private library for anything that could be of help.

The two boys became so obsessed with the idea of creating life that their original purpose, the reason they came together to begin with – finding the deathly hallows – was left on the backburner during daytime.

It was quite symbolic, as it was. The days were spent conceiving life, the nights conquering death and planning revolution. No matter the hour, no matter which celestial body was looking down upon them, they felt like gods just the same.

”Since we know it’s going to be a boy, I want him to be called Aurelius,” Albus said one day, picking apart a piece of hay.

He very carefully did not look at Gellert as he said this. They were sprawled out on the floor of the barn, behind a large haystack. Gellert was stirring the cauldron. Seven times clockwise, four times counterclockwise, as per Albus's instructions. They’d added their blood just a minute ago, and the concoction was sizzling.

”Gold,” Gellert mused. ”I like it.”

Albus nodded. ”It’s a fitting name for an alchemy experiment, is it not? It was also one of Paracelsus’s middle names.”

”You’ve given this quite a bit of thought.”

Albus blushed, but did not reply.

Gellert glanced at him. ”Albus, you shouldn’t-”

”I shouldn’t treat him like a real baby, yes I know.” Albus’s flush deepened. ”You’ve said as much.”

”If we treat him too nicely, he’ll become all soft,” Gellert reminded him. ”And he won’t be of any use when we actually need him to kill my enemy. He has to know his place.”

Albus bit his lip. He knew Gellert had been raised with this same type of tough love and turned out fine. Maybe Aurelius would too.

-

Albus was disappointed to find Aberforth bustling about in the barn, and not Gellert. It really was no surprise that Aberforth was in his own barn, taking care of his own goats, but he usually fed them at seven, and it was close to nine now. And all the goats were outside at the moment, grazing on the open meadows.

The barn had become Albus and Gellert’s perfect hangout spot, but Albus really didn’t want his brother to know about that. Way too many secrets happened between the four walls for anyone to know about.

Aberforth hadn’t noticed him yet. He was crouched down, busying himself with brushing the unruly wool of the only goat still inside the barn. The particular goat that was pregnant with  _Albus and Gellert’s homunculus_.

Albus hadn’t been on board with the suggestion at first, when the question of womb had come about. A womb was safer than a cauldron, warm and protective. They needed one for the fetus to grow in. Gellert had immediately pointed at the closest goat expectedly, as if he already had it all figured out.

It had taken some serious convincing for Albus to come to terms with the idea. Aberforth loved his goats, they were the apple of his eye, his pride and joy. Albus doubted his brother would want any of them subjected to their alchemy project.

But then Gellert had suggested they’d transfigure a womb onto either himself or Albus - since Albus disliked the idea of using a goat so much - and Albus finally had to concede.

What Aberforth didn’t know, wouldn’t hurt him. But he definitely would get suspicious if he saw Albus and Gellert sauntering about the barn. Gellert would arrive at any moment now. Albus had to interfere.

He leaned against one of the creaky pillars marking the doorway of the small stall Aberforth was occupied in. It squeaked under Albus’s weight, making Aberforth’s head turn.

”What are you doing here?” he asked in surprise, hand ceasing its brushing movement.

Albus shrugged. ”I came to see what you were up to.”

Aberforth stood up, moving to haul some hay into his arms. He dumped all of it into a huge crib in the corner of the space. ”That’s unusual of you.”

Albus endeavored to help him. He rarely did anything physically exacting anymore, now that he was allowed to use magic freely. It was a welcome bout of exercise.

”You usually feed your goats earlier in the morning,” Albus commented.

Aberforth grunted in acknowledgment. ”I think Genevieve is ill,” he said, head jerking back to the goat he’d been brushing just a minute ago. ”She is in need of some extra care.”

Albus peered at the goat. ”Are you sure she isn’t just, uh… pregnant?”

”Impossible,” Aberforth sniffed. ”All of my goats are does, except for Gavin, and he’s still a buckling. Way under four months old.”

Albus laughed nervously. ”Maybe Genevieve is the next Virgin Mary, then. Goat version. She definitely looks pregnant in my eyes.”

”Baa,” Genevieve bleated miserably.

Aberforth gave Albus a look. ”I’d really like a specialist to take a look at her. I know there’s a muggle goat breeder in the town nearby.” Aberforth patted the goat’s head gently, sighing, ”If Genevieve truly is dying, I want her last time on earth to be wholesome. I’m going to be by her side until she draws her last breath.”

Albus’s heart sank. He couldn’t spend the next couple of weeks watching Aberforth mourn over his presumably dying goat. It was too cruel.

”Listen, Ab, there’s something I need to tell you.”

Aberforth raised a brow. ”Is this about your boyfriend? Because I honestly could not care less what disgusting things the two of you are up to.”

”Gellert is not my boyfriend,” Albus protested, heat rushing to his cheeks. ”The things we do together are purely academic _._ ”

”Sure, if you say so,” Aberforth acquiesced, smirking. He poured water from one bucket into another. ”What is this about, then?”

Albus realized he’d drawn himself into a corner. ”Well, uh.”

”You can tell me, Al,” Aberforth encouraged. ”I know we haven’t been getting along much lately, but you’re still my brother. And, well… I love you no matter what.” Flushing, he crossed his arms and raised his chin as if daring Albus to make fun of him.

Albus gulped. ”Well, the truth is…”

”There you are, Albus!”

Albus and Aberforth both turned their heads at the sound. Gellert had slunk in without either one of them noticing.

Aberforth tensed up. ”What are you doing here?” he snarled, tone considerably more hostile than when he’d asked Albus the same question. ”Get out of my barn!”

”I came looking for Albus,” Gellert informed him innocently. ”As you might’ve guessed by my earlier statement.”

Aberforth glared at him. Gellert’s teeth flashed.

Albus grabbed Gellert by the sleeve, tugging it. ”And we’re leaving now. Bye, Aberforth.”

”You never told me that thing you were going to say!” Aberforth cried after him.

”What thing?” Gellert asked Albus.

”I’ll tell you later,” Albus called to back to Aberforth. ”We need to talk,” he then said to Gellert, voice low.

-

No matter how much Albus tried to convince Gellert they’d have to divulge at least parts of their plan to his brother, Gellert remained stubbornly resolute. He feared Aberforth would do anything in his will to sabotage their plans. Albus argued that this wasn’t the case – Aberforth would be angry, yes, but he’d come to terms with it if it they explained themselves thoroughly.

Albus knew Aberforth would understand, because they had grown up together, whereas Gellert and Aberforth had not. Dim as his brother could be at times, Albus knew he wasn’t dumb to the bone. He could see reason, and Albus was convinced Aberforth would see the light - it was simply a matter of _how_ the subject was brought up.

Albus could be discreet when he needed to be. He could tell him, without everything descending into chaos. He was sure of it.

Gellert didn’t want anything more said on the subject. He had grown irritated at Albus’s persistence and strictly forbidden him from telling Aberforth a hum of their plans.

Albus and Gellert had never gotten this close to an actual row before, and uneasiness settled in the pit of Albus’s stomach as they parted on uncertain terms for lunch.

They were supposed to meet by the barn again at two o’clock, but when Albus showed up, Aberforth was there again, fussing about his goat. Gellert had not yet arrived, and guilt and shame and anger drove Albus into doing what he had been explicitly told not to do: telling Aberforth everything, from their plans of finding the hallows to the homunculus presently residing inside Aberforth’s precious goat.

Albus emphasized on how this was the only way to save Ariana, on how the ends justified the means. That this meant freedom for all parties involved. He carefully avoided mentioning anything about their plans of revolution.

When he finished his five-minute ramble, Aberforth looked pale. He used his one arm to support himself against the wall, as if he was scared he’d faint if he didn’t hold on to anything.

”Please say something,” Albus pleaded.

Aberforth opened and closed his mouth several times. ”You put a WHAT inside my Genevieve?” he finally blurted, in complete shock.

”A homunculus,” Albus repeated. ”It’s an alchemically conceived-”

” _Unbelievable_ ,” Gellert interjected, stepping into the shadows of the barn. His face was a storm.

Albus’s whole body went cold, stomach twisting. He hadn’t expected Gellert to show up so soon. ”I’m sorry!” he cried, frantic. ”I couldn’t help myself!”

Gellert strode across the room, fury painting his beautiful features into something monstrous. ”I told you not to tell him,” he hissed, jaw clenched as he crowded into Albus’s personal space.  

Aberforth whipped out his wand. ”Stay away from him!”

Gellert gave Aberforth a deeply unimpressed look. ”Is that a challenge?”

”Aberforth, lower your wand this instant,” Albus begged, mortified. ”He can’t hurt me, I told you, we made a blood pact.”

”Let’s make one thing clear here,” Aberforth sneered. ”You two are the most arrogant, unbalanced lunatics I have ever had the displeasure of meeting in my _life_.”

Gellert’s lip curled. ”Says the moron.”

” _I’m_ talking!”

Gellert crossed his arms, defiant. Albus wrung his hands, eyes flickering from Aberforth to Gellert to the goat between them.

”I have no idea how you two were planning on extracting the obscurus from Ariana, but I won’t allow it. You could kill her!”

”You have no idea what you are talking about,” Gellert fumed. ”Albus and I will extract the obscurus, take our homunculus and leave you two here to rot while we create a new world order.”

”What kind of utter bull- You’re bonkers if you honestly think Albus would leave us to travel with the likes of you,” Aberforth thundered. ”I’m still sixteen, he can’t leave us, he’s our legal guardian!”

Gellert seemed to physically swell with indignation, drawing his wand. ”Tell him, Albus!” he spat. ”Tell him about our plans of muggle subjugation!”

Albus squirmed, saying nothing.

Gellert turned his frowning eyes from Aberforth to Albus. ”Albus?” he prompted, hesitancy creeping into his voice.

Albus took a deep breath. ”Maybe, maybe we should wait until Aberforth is of age,” he suggested, the words leaving him in a rush.

Gellert lowered his wand, jaw dropping. ”You _promised-_ ”

”I know,” Albus said quickly. ”But we really can’t leave them before Aberforth turns seventeen.”

”Hah,” Aberforth jeered.

Heat crawled up Gellert’s neck. He looked at Albus as if seeing him with new eyes. The betrayal in them was heartbreaking. He took several steps backwards, pointing his wand at Albus now. ”You promised,” he repeated, echoing himself.

Albus hadn’t noticed at what point he had drawn his wand too, before he was pointing it at Gellert in the same manner that Aberforth was.

”Aberforth?”

Ariana had shown up out of nowhere, her eyes big as she took in all of their individual offensive stances. ”What’s going on?” she asked the barn at large.  

”Nothing,” Albus assured her, blind panic making his heart thud in his throat. ”Gellert and I were just about to leave for the lake. Right, Gellert?”

A pause.

”Right,” Gellert finally agreed. The Dumbledore brothers lowered their wands simultaneously as Gellert lowered his.

Ariana strolled up to Genevieve, petting her on the head. The goat bleated, and the tension in the barn dissipated. Gellert’s eyes still looked dark.

Albus walked up to his side. Gellert didn’t look at him as the two of them headed out of the barn.

”Fairies,” Aberforth muttered under his breath as they were halfway across the room.

If Aberforth had thought Gellert to be out of earshot, he had been gravely mistaken. Turning and drawing out his wand again, it was perfectly clear by the cold rage in Gellert’s eyes that this particular insult had been the one to finally break the camel’s back.

The one that let all hell break loose.

-

Weeks later, after the burial and the broken nose, when Albus was numb and struggled to get out of bed in the morning, just days before Aberforth was about to leave for his last year at Hogwarts, Genevieve went into labor.

Aberforth didn’t speak to him throughout the birth process, even though Albus was there, relentlessly by his side. It all went well, and the goat lived.

When Aberforth handed a screaming Aurelius to Albus, it was with disgust twisting his features. ”I am not babysitting that,” he grumbled.

And that was final.

Albus held Aurelius and looked down at him. In the weeks that they had cooked up the boy, Albus had looked forward to this moment in excitement. He knew that the minute he held their creation in his arms, he’d fall in love at first sight, like all parents did with their newborn children in the books that he read growing up.  

But now, as Albus took in the bawling baby, all he could feel was apathy. Black smoke emanated from the baby’s arms as he swung them around. Ariana’s obscurus had attached itself to it, despite everything.

-

Two years passed, and the baby was not growing. Albus theorized that the obscurus was slowing down the growth process. Bags grew underneath Albus’s eyes from exhaustion. Aberforth had moved out the second he could and wanted nothing to do with his older brother.

Not only was Albus tired and lonely; he had also become increasingly aware that Gellert would come looking for their homunculus eventually. Aurelius was Gellert’s only hope in defeating the man he feared the most.

But Albus couldn’t let that happen. As much as Aurelius felt like a punishment, he had grown to cherish the only family he had left and wanted nothing dangerous to happen to the child. No matter how many times he thought it over, he always came to the conclusion that letting Aurelius live with Albus was a risk to the child’s health.

He knew that his aunt Honoria was to travel to America. Albus was clever with his words, but even he could see that his story of a baby randomly left on his doorstep fell flat to her ears. Nevertheless, she agreed to take the baby to an orphanage in America.

It tore Albus’s heart apart to write Aurelius down on the adoption papers.

But by this point, Albus had grown used to heartbreak.

 


End file.
